Fire-box door



April 27 1926.

'BRING FIRE BOX DOOR Filed April 17, 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Q Q Q Q QQ Q April 27 1926.

E. J. BRING' FIRE Bgx DooR Filed April 17, 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Apr. 27, 1926.

am@ JQHAN niemeer FRANKLIN, HEENSYLVANIA,

FIERE-BOX' POOR.

application filled April 1f?, i320. Serial No. 374,657.

T0 @ZZ @0.7mm it may concern:

Be it known thatl, EIvNAn JOHAN Biene, a citizen of the United States, residing at Franklin, in the county 'ot Venangofand State: ot' l?ennsylvaniag have invented'certain new and useful Improven'ients in Fire-Box Doors, oi which theI rfoiloivi'ng is a specifi.- cation. This invention has reference to anvnnproved apparatus of the ycharzlrcteif speoied in which there will be obtained greater ehiciency and Vreliability lin operation and econoniyin operating iiuid and in' which the maintenance cost "as" Well "the" original cost ot installation` will lbesubst-antially reduced as compared with certain otheifforins in coinnionju'se. i

' Another object of this invention is the provision of a device of the character speoiiied in `which, should any rdisturbaiice occur'in the fire boxsuch asresultsA troni dropping of the crown sheet orthe burning out of a Hue, the flow of escaping'steain through the door opening, assuming "the door had been in openposit'ion, would act to force the parte to closed position andtlius v,reliably blow the door shut providing 'a safety factor of confsiderable value.

A further object ofgthis invention is the provision of a doorof the character specified which will have a inaxiniuin degree'of adaptability to a'greatnuinber of conditions varying on different engines so ythatit inlay be applied not only on any fire box which has a suitable sized ireopening Without re quiring the relocation or 'rearrangeinent of other' existing, apparatus iny connnon 115e, but also on lire boxes Where the customary forins ycannot be applied because of'lack of space and similar reasons.:

A further `object of the invention is lthe provision of a pivotal lsnpport lat eachend of each of the tivo sections of thedoor-l so arranged that the door cannot be blown out by any pressure short of anlainount suiiicient to break the door tivo. i e Still another object of this invention is the provision of a' door ofthis characterin which the opening presente'djby the 'door when opened will be substantially the saineshape as the aperture inthe boiler, jvhenftlie @FOOT is ral alla @essedi 'it-will.;

'various Wearing` o need ad]ustnient door which is the best shape for a supplemental air inlet such as is sometimes desired in operation ofsuch iireboizes. y

Another advantage of iny invention is the provision of a 'door in which vWeight is reduced to av inininnnn and in which the parts such'as are liable to or replacement `yare 'readily horizontal gap or slit in the iniddle of the accessible. e

Stillv another. object obtained by iny in-Kl vention is theprovision of a door for iire boxes Whichkidapts itself very economically and advantageously tothe asseinblyojf the parts asa unit -for Aconvenient application tothe structure oilE the tire box. Thisob jectiI attainby making the cylinder and valve in substantially one. unitary structure and the -traine and door parts in a second unit'land arrangingthe whole so ythat in seinbling the parts, kthe nforlnnanfhas but to connect' the operating rod andtighten the two-bolts that khold the cylinder to the'fraine. `Still another advantage incident to in'y invention is the provision'ot a inechanisni in Which a'niiniinuin of manual effort vWill be required to open the door vand Vin which when actuating-"the partsby hand, it is not necessary to vapproach the'boiler as closely as ivithother door structures.

In 'addition tothe several advantages above set kforth iny door has the capacity' operating Withoutfbeing affected by the difference in pressureinsi.deyoie the tire box and the pressure of the atmosphere outside. In

doors commonly usedlieretofore a substan-v tial diflerence in Vpressure between the inside and outside conditionsof the tire box some times 4causes the doors to rub against the frames;l 'which' creates such frictionvhere the 'dilference in" pressure is considerable thatit sometimes produces substantial interference Withthe free actuation ol" the `doors .bythe piston or other-automatic' means einployed'and ythus 'interferes lWith the `successful use of the d'eyice.` "In dooifconstructed in accordance withA my present improvement this vdilinulty is `entirely eliminated because the fri tion which`4 niay be caused vby anyV differences of lpressure between' thel inside andf'ftlie toutsideof 4the irefboxwill .be e erted onlyupon tliefdoor pinwliose radius Cir is so small that any substantial disarrangement from such variation ot pressure will not be of any consequence with regard to the amount of power required to actuate the parts.

Another object which I obtain by means of this invention is the provision ot a door of this general type which requires no more room when open than it does when closed, and in which also because of the small amount ot power that is required to actuate the parts, a power device or piston may be used which is notl provided with packing rings and in which even ati er a conside able amount ot wear has taken place, the door members will move without substantial ditiiculty.

rlhe above, as well as such other objects as may herei a ter appear, I obtain by means of a construction which I have illustrated in preferred form in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure l is a front elevation oit a door einbodying my improvement; Figure 2 is a side elevation ot the door with a portion o'i' the actuating means shown in section and with a portion of the fire box with its door opening and-o1" the lower door segment in open position shown in dotted lines; Figure 3 is a detail'ot the actuating mechanism showing` a part of it in section on the line fS- of Fig. 2; Figure el is a perspective view of one of my improved doors with the parts in closed position and Figure 5 is a lilze perspective view showing the parts in tull open position.

referring now more particularly7 to Figures d and 5, it will be seen that the door proper consists of three principal parts, the door 'trame l, the upper door plate 2, and the lower door plate S, both plates being held in position at either side by pivot pins Ll: so that the upper platevmay swing 'reely in an upward direction and the lower plate downwardly as indicated in Figure In order to secure an action of the doors in unison they are connected together by links 5 and 6 working in association with the rocking lever 7 which is pivoted at so that when the upper door is forced upward either by hand or by the power mechanism with which it is attached, the connecting link (i will cause the rocher to rotate around its center in a manner to torce the connect ing linl; 5 downward to move the lower door plate in unison with thel upper plate.

As a great many of the locon'iotives new in use have sloping boiler heads at the rear, I prefer to make the door plates so that the).vr meet below the center line of the open which makes the upper plate somewln larger and heavier than the lower plete. its a result of this difference in size ot' the twov plates whenthe door isapplied on the sloping head referred. to and both plates opened the outside `tace ot the top plate wil Y be approximately in the saine vertical plane with the outside face of the lower plate. This arrangement shortens the distance into the lire box around the lower halt of the door opening and thus gives additional clearance for the lireman when he is endeavoring to throw coal into the bachr ot the lire box.

Constructing the upper and lower plates of diii'erent sizes as indicated also has the advantage that when the upper plate is larger and heavier than the lower plate it will assist the door to close by gravity and it the differential ot weight be made sut iciently large, the door can be made a gravity closing door arranged to be opened manually or by power and closed by gravity.

As a convenient means to hold the door open, I provide a latch 9 and introduce into the upper plate a plurality ot notches as indicated at l0 and 1l so that when the latch is dropped down it will catch in these notches or on the lower edge of the upper door plate when itis fully opened and thus I am enabled Vto hold the door either in 'fully opened position or at various predetermined partially opened positions such as will Serve when the engine is standing at a station `for example, to reduce the amount ot black smoke or to regulate the condition ol' com bustion in the ire box.

It will also be observed that when the doors are fully opened the lower plate will act as a shovel shield and thereby protect the joint which occurs in most lire boxes between the inner and outer sheet ol the lire box construction. The segments actually torm or define the opening by virtue of the fact that they telescope or nest into the trame to positions opposite each other. 'I he traine is enlarged at the top and bottom to provide shroud-like portions ln and 1b which cooperate with the segments to cover or close the doei' openingand receive the segments when opened. rEhe segments may therefore be made acute angled, as shown, which means, among other things, that a maximum size or liring opening or passage may be obtained.

I prefer to construct the door plates 2 and 3 of double or hollow walls with air chamber space between them, the outer air boing admitted through suitable apertures l2 and the communication with the interior heilig obtained by apertures 13 shown in Figure 2 as located in the inner wall lll.

As a convenient means for manually actuating the door, I arrange the handle l5 shown in Figures l and this handle being olf convenient access to the fireman because of the projection outwardly of the Jody of the two door plates.

Referring now more particularly to Figures l, Zand 5, it will be seen that I have yiis therein indicated thc application to the up! socketed in the piston S20, the pin 19 extend-k ing through a slot 19a in the cylinder 21.

The air supply tor actuating the piston 2O comes through the pipe connection 22" attached in the threaded opening 22 and controlled `by the valve 23 which is mounted in a bracket 2st that carries by means voit a pin at 25 a rocker lever 2G that receives its motion in turn from a toot ti'eadle 27 or other ,suitable actuating device.

All'o'f this actuating mechanism is so ai'-` ranged that when the treadle 27 is pushed down air will be admitted under pressure below the piston 20 and will move the piston upward acting through the link 18 to push upward on the upper door plate 2 and that in turn will operate to open both door plates through the link connections on the other end of the said plates.

1While I have shown the actuating mechanism somewhat in detail, my invention is directed primarily to the features of the door itseltl and other forms ot actuating device might be employed tor imparting the requisite power to move the door and the particular form of piston and valve and actiiating` device which I have indicated is not specifically of my inventioni on which account it will not be necessary to describe it more in detail herein. It desired reference may be had to the copending application of F. WV. Martin, Serial No. 375,042, tiled April 19th7 192() for a detailed description of this operating mechanism.

It will be seen that the structure disclosed provides a door which can probably be best described by the term ,clam shell inasmuch as the movements of the plates or segments are somewhat similar to those of the types of excavating buckets known as clam shell7 buckets and in some of the appended claims l' have designated the door as a clam shell door in order to distinguish this new class oi door from the ordinary doors such as the 'iutterfiy and sliding doors.

I claim:

1. A clam shell door for a tire bex opening including' segments rotatable toward the box to uncover the opening and outwardly to cover the opening.

2. A clam shell door for a lire box opening including seginentshaving their ends nivoted adjacent the box so that the segments rotate toward the box in door opening i'novement.v

3, A. clam shell door tor a lire box opening including a trame adapted to be applied to the opening and a pair of door segments raving their ends pivoted in said frame and adjacent the opening whereby one of said segments .rotates `upwaiilly and inwardly and the other downwardly and inwardly toward the lbox on door opening movement.y

4. A door for a tire box opening includ ing a clam lshell segment member pivoted adjacent the boxaiid rotatable toward t-he latter te uncover the door opening.

5. A clamshell door for a lire box opening including segn'ients rotatable toward the s nox to uncover .the opening and outwardly to cover the opening,means for operating one of the segments, and a 4connection `between segments whereby the operation oic y one segment' actuates the other.

6. A clam shell door for a lire box opening including segments rotatable toward the box to uncover the opening and outwardly to cover the opening, means for operating one of the segments, and a link and lever connection between the segments whereby movement Vof one segmentiinparts reverse movement to the other,

- 7. A clam shell door for a fire box opening including segments rotatable toward the box to uncover the opening and outwardly to cover the opening, the upper segment being heavier and operatively connected with the lower.y

8. A clam shell door for a tire box opening including a plurality of door segments and a plurality of shrouds, the segments nesting in the .shrouds on rotation to uncever the openino. l

9. A clam shell door for a fire box opening including a 4plurality ot' door segments and a plurality oft' shrouds, the segments nesting in the shrouds on rotation to un cover the opening and cooperating with the shrouds to cover the opening when the door is closed. j

10. A clam .shell door Jfor a tire box opening including a plurality of stationary members and a plurality ot rotatable door segnient portions, the latter nesting in the former on rotation to uncover the opening and cooperating with the former to cover the opening.

adjacent the door opening and a shroud cooperating with the segments when the latter clam shell door for a lire box openy ing comprising a pair of segments pivoted4 opening and a pair of door segments having their ends pivoted and being adapted to nest Within the fi-aine on rotation to uncover the openino.

141. A clmn shell door for a fire boX opening comprising door segments pivoted adjacent the door opening, and linked together to rotate about an approximately horizontal axis, the upper segment being heavier. n

15. A clem Shell door for a locomotive fire box opening comprising a pair of pivoted segments adapted to extend into the opening and to .shield the surfaces of the opening when the door is opened.

16. A door for a locomotive tire boi; opening including a door segment of snbstantizilly the shape of the sect-or ot' a sphere pivoted on its diameter to swing into the opening and to shield the surfaces of the opening when the door is opened.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my naine.

EINAR JOHAN BRNG. 

